It's
often said that directors have more responsibilities than any other
person working in the film. Actors or the other members of the crew
only follow the orders of the director. What if the director is only
an eight year-old boy? Surprised?

Well most of you
might have already known about the exclusive work done by this kid from
The Daily Star but we thought of bringing this young star exclusively
for the RS readers. Yes…our rising star of the week is Arjo Shrestho,
who has directed an interesting 10-minute film called The Lost Love
Story. Not only that, he has also won an honorary diploma at the Tempara
Film Festival in Finland. 534 filmmakers from USA, Europe, Australia,
Asia and Africa took part in this festival.

Arjo
is the son of renowned filmmaker K M Mithu and artist Kanak Chanpa Chakma.
And now lets see what Arjo has to say about the film, 'It's a film where
a girl is eager to help a street vendor Chandu whom she meets while
coming from the school. This wasn't as easy as she thought as her father
was reluctant to help Chandu because he was saving every bit of his
money for her future. Finally her dissidence gives the film a gentle
ending'. 'The part of the young girl is played by my younger sister
Shiropa and the characters of the parents were performed by Shahidul
Alam Sachhu and Shireen Bokul, the well-known faces of our country.

Utsho played the
role of Chandu', answered Arjo when asked about the casting of the film.
We asked him if he was nervous when he directed people who were much
more experienced and elder than him, and his confident reply was, 'No,
I wasn't nervous at all.' According to him his parents inspired him
the most. He didn't forget to mention that his father helped him during
work.

When asked about
his idols, Sachin Tendulkar tops the list! As you all can guess, Arjo's
favorite sports are cricket and basketball. His ambition is to become
a cricketer like Tendulkar. He has got a favorite pet. A black and white
colored cat. 'I call him Bhaiya as he is older than me in age and I
love him a lot', he admitted.

Besides directing
and winning awards for this film, Arjo has also won award for paintings
from the Shishu Academy at the age of six. If not a cricketer, then
he desires to be an artist like his parents. 'I like to read books and
play computer games in my spare time'. A remarkable thing is that his
favourite subject is maths, when most of the students of his age are
afraid of this subject. This simple thing also indicates that he is
a courageous boy. He started making the film from February of this year
and now by this April he is so famous! He really deserves a pat on his
shoulder for this. This is not the end, few days ago his touching and
inspiring paintings were seen at the Gallery Tone. They were highly
acclaimed by people.

Besides being the
son of the famous parents, Arjo himself has started collecting fame
for himself. He is keen to start his new project soon. We'll be looking
forward to that. 'Shrestho' means 'the best', and he certainly is doing
justice to his name through his works. Best wishes from the RS team
along with the readers to Arjo for his achievements and also for the
years ahead him. Well, Let's wait and watch another star rise up high
and light up the globe with his talent.

By
Syeda Nafiza Ahmed

Campus
news

Yuri
Gagarin science fair

The Yuri Gagarin
Science Fair was organised by the Bangladesh Astronomical Association
and the Russian Cultural Center in commemoration of the 70th birth anniversary
of the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin.

Pundits, the educators,
endorsed this two-day event at the Russian Cultural Center. An inter-school
quiz competition (March 15), an art competition for juniors (March 14),
and the showing of a series of documentaries were part of this event,
which also featured discussions and exhibits related to astronomy. School-goers
from Dhaka's most reported schools blessed the event with their participation.

The champions in
Astral, the inter-school quiz competition were from the Aga Khan School,
and they were Mirza Arman Ahmed and Ahsan Imon Nawroj. The first runners-up,
hailing from Cephalon International School were Manal M Rahman, and
Priyanka Chowdhury, while Saint Joseph High School was the second runner-up,
with Adittya Noman and Chandra Shekhar. The inter-school art competition
was for students from classes 1 to 3, and the winner was Maisha Maliha
from Scholastica. Second in line was Afrida Kamal from Sunnydale, who
was followed by H.M. Shabbir of the Dhaka Residential Model College.

Shirin Hussain Matin
and Squadron Leader Syed M. Akhtar kindly agreed to be the chief guests
at the occasion. Shojib from PUNDITS was also present at the prize-giving
ceremony, which saw every participant being rewarded for their participation.

Attempting
to save the crowWith the slogan:
"Do something, anything, to repay earth's credit", BANDHU
(Belfry Activists for Nations Development and Human Unison) is working
out plans on how to conserve birds. What intrigued me was that they
were attempting to conserve crows too.

Out of my curiosity
I enquired why they were trying to save such an ugly-looking bird. With
a smile the members of the organisation explained that crows help to
protect our environment. This is because in Dhaka city every day approximately
3000 to 3500 tonnes of waste is produced and not all of this can be
collected by the Dhaka City Corporation. Crows eat this waste and by
doing so ensure that humans do not get affected by diseases. They also
explained to me that with the population of Dhaka city increasing, it
is absolutely imperative for us to increase the number of crows. Apparently,
with a little bit of effort and willingness we can easily achieve this.

Although the idea
of this probably sounds grotesque, we should always keep in mind that
crows help to keep our city clean and that they do so for free

Presently, seven
people are involved with BANDHU. They are: Uday Shankar Chaki, Khaled
Mahfuz Saif, Anisur Rahman, Fahaduzzaman Rumi, Sagar Sarker Sajal, Shoma
Dutta and Nazia Ahmed. While conversing with them they told me that
the biggest problem that they face in carrying out their work is shortage
of funds. Apparently, all of their work is self-financed. They informed
me that with a bit of financial support they could have done a lot more
to raise awareness about environmental issues. Another problem that
they stated is that they lack manpower. They mentioned that they would
like to have more people working for BANDHU. If anybody is interested
in joining the organisation, you can do so by getting in touch with
any of the members. They can be contacted at: 15/10 Modhubag, Moghbazar,
Dhaka 1217. Alternatively you can contact them via email at: bandhu01@msn.com

BANDHU is indeed
a praiseworthy initiative. This is even more so when you consider that
all the members of the organisation are under the age of thirty. Through
their work they are helping to ensure a cleaner and therefore a safer
environment.

It might be mentioned
here that BANDHU was formed on 1 July 2001 by a few enthusiastic students
in order to raise awareness about the numerous environmental problems
that Bangladesh is plagued with. Ever since its inception the voluntary
organisation has held numerous seminars at various schools and colleges.
These seminars are held to inform children that they all have to work
together if we are to save our beloved Bangladesh from an ecological
disaster.

By
Sayeed Mahmud Nizam

Book
review"Haari
Potar and the Chembar of Secrates"

Potter-mania
had long gripped the world and today innumerable Potter fans are around
us. Truly, the Harry Potter books have won worldwide success. It isn't
surprising either. J. K. Rowling's skill and innovation had indeed produced
masterpieces. Given all the popularity and success the books had achieved,
it was clear that Bengali translations of the books were in order. Into
the picture comes Mr Moniruzzaman, riding to the aid of Bengali readers.

Yes,
as you might have guessed, this is a book review. Contrary to whatever
one might think, though this review is written by a teenager to be precise.
So it is natural for the writer to have some personal opinions.

Firstly,
the names of the characters and locations are marvellously mispronounced
in the translation. Astoundingly, the trio is renamed as Haari, Rone,
and Harmeon. Their school is renamed Hogarts. Other people's names aren't
excused either: Hag-reed (Hagrid); Mr Ueejlee (Mr Weasley); Dum-bale-dor
(Dumbledore). Names of different places are mispronounced too, such
as, Liki Coldron (Leaky Cauldron). Also, the Ministry of Magic is translated
as Magic Montronaloy. This renaming process goes on throughout the entire
translated book and very few names have escaped this process.

J.
K. Rowling possesses an extraordinary control over the English language
and very often uses rarely used words in her books to express subtle
meanings. Very often readers stumble upon words she had used emphasise
extra details. Anyway, they are almost completely missing in the translation.
For example, there are great differences between the words "snapped",
"barked" and "retorted". Nevertheless, all these
represent spoken conversation. On the translation, the Bengali counterpart
of the word "said" is used to represent those words. In addition,
simple words replace almost all other meaningful words.

Apart
form all these obvious slip-ups, the quality of the translation can
be questioned. Rowling's excellent writing makes readers involved with
the Harry Potter books. There are subtle expressions of excitement and
happiness, pain and sorrow in her writing. However, all these are missing
from the translation. The translator translated the book sentence by
sentence, hampering the smooth flow of the story. The reader would miss
the unique enjoyment of reading Harry Potter books. Simple, rather inexpressive
words had replaced Rowling's significant words. Therefore, the translation
is merely able to tell the readers what happened in the story.

Bengali
literature is a rich and colourful one. A book as exciting as the "Harry
Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" deserves to be available in
the rich and vibrant Bengali language. Yes, we should have good translations
of great classics. If the translation is agonizing, it loses its usefulness.
Yet we should appreciate that the translator took the initiative to
translate the book, for there aren't many great books that have been
translated into Bengali. The effort of Mr Moniruzzaman, the translator,
should have been a commendable one, but unfortunately, the translation
simply doesn't allow us to praise the effort.